Siemens To Conduct Carbon Capture Study

Posted on February 10, 2010

Longview Power, owner of the power generation facility currently under construction in Maidsville, West Virginia, U.S.A., has selected Siemens Energy to conduct a study analyzing the applicability of post-combustion carbon dioxide (CO2) capture technology. The Longview Power project includes a new 695 MW rated advanced supercritical pulverized coal power plant equipped with Siemens’ air pollution control equipment.

The study will include process design activities focused on the potential application of Siemens’ second generation amino acid salt post-combustion CO2 capture (POSTCAP) process. In addition to the power generation equipment, Siemens provided the air quality control system (AQCS) and therefore is in a position to optimize the existing AQCS to accommodate the POSTCAP technology.

Longview is on track to become one of the cleanest, most efficient and most technically advanced coal-fired power plants in the United States. The US$2 billion project includes a US$500 million investment in sophisticated environmental control systems. Longview Power is owned by Longview Power, LLC, which is in turn majority-owned by GenPower Holdings, L.P.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA), the amount of CO2 produced from the combustion of fossil fuels in the United States is nearly 5.7 billion metric tons with approximately 33% coming from the coal-fired electric power sector. Climate change legislation pending in the U.S. Congress may require a reduction in CO2 emissions from coal-fired power plants. The successful completion of the Siemens POSTCAP feasibility study for Longview can help establish the necessary parameters to allow a demonstration plant to be realized.